The Third Annual Doyle Brunson Beer Pong Invitational was held at Hogs and Heifers bar in Downtown Las Vegas on Wednesday, giving many of poker’s biggest names a chances to drink, socialize, and talk a little trash before the World Series of Poker (WSOP) kicks off later this week. After a day filled with foolish prop bets and drunken debauchery, Tony “Bond18” Dunst and partner Leo Murphy showed off their impressive pong skills to win the 32-team tournament, defeating Full Tilt Poker Pro Amanda Baker and Shawn Patrick Green in the championship game.
The tournament’s first round provided some of the day’s most memorable matches. The legendary Doyle Brunson and teammate Zachary “CrazyZachary” Clark shocked those in attendance by upending Jason “JaspudUF” Lee and Dave Walker. DoylesRoom, which sponsored the event, was represented well in the first round, as Todd Brunson and teammate Brett “Gank” Jungblut were victorious in their match and Hoyt Corkins and Brunson10 member Steve “gboro780” Gross defeated Matt “All In At 420” Stout’s team to move onto the next round.
Shaun Deeb and his partner Allie Prescott lost their first round match to Rick Fuller and Jim Shipley, but Deeb still managed to walk away with the most hardware during the event. Deeb and Prescott put on a vociferous routine to earn the “Best Trash Talkers” award, while Deeb was also honored with the “Worst Loser” title after nearly being removed from the bar for getting into a rules dispute with the tournament staff – during a game that he wasn’t even involved in. Full Tilt Poker’s newest Red Pro, Andrew “luckychewy” Lichtenberger, was given the “Biggest Crybaby” award.
Other winners in the first round were Erick Lindgren and Erica Schoenberg, Jonathan “FatalError” Aguiar and Steve “MrTimCaum” O’Dwyer, Harrah’s Entertainment’s Ty Stewart and poker super-agent Brian Balsbaugh, Lichtenberger and Dan Smith, and Scott Seiver and Greg Dyer, who defeated CEREUS Network pros Adam “Roothlus” Levy and Trishelle Cannatella when Levy inadvertently knocked over the last cup of the match.
In the second round, Brunson and Clark moved on by defeating Seiver and O’Dwyer. Corkins and Gross also advanced to the third round, but the younger Brunson and Jungblut were defeated handily by Dunst and Murphy. Other advancing to the quarterfinals were Baker and Green, Stewart and Balsbaugh, Lichtenberger and Smith, Fuller and Shipley, and a team from Hogs and Heifers.
With the tension and intoxication building, the third round pitted two teams of friends against each other. Dunst, whose original partner was supposed to be Randal “RandALLIn” Flowers, was teamed up with Lichtenberg’s friend, Murphy, when Flowers was unable to show. Dunst and Murphy faced off against Lichtenberger and Smith, with the Dunst/Murphy duo coming away with a triumphant victory to move on to the semis. A few tables over, Brunson and Clark lost to Baker and Green after Clark made a major beer pong blunder. With one cup remaining for each team, Clark sank his shot, granting a rebuttal shot for his opponents. But when Baker made her shot, Clark thoughtlessly drank the beer, resulting in a disqualification.
Joining Dunst/Murphy and Baker/Green in the semifinals were the Stewart/Balsbaugh and Fuller/Shipley teams. Dunst and Murphy continued their onslaught by winning their match rather effortlessly, while Green and Baker snuck by Stewart and Balsbaugh. In the final match, which was referred to as “The Final Table” by the Hogs and Heifers staff, Dunst and Murphy jumped out to an early lead and held on to claim the title of Brunson Beer Pong III champions.
